Joshua Ferris (born November 8, 1974) is an American author best known for his debut novel '' Then We Came to the End'' (2007). The novel is a comedy about the American workplace, is narrated in the first-person plural, and is set in a fictitious

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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facing challenges at the end of the 1990s

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Biography

Ferris graduated from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

with a BA in English and philosophy in 1996. He moved to Chicago and worked in advertising for several years before obtaining an MFA in writing from

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Education In the United States * University of California system * University of Charleston, West Virginia * University of Chicago, Illinois * University of Cincinnati, Ohio * Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey (''defunct ...

. His first published story, "Mrs. Blue," appeared in the '' Iowa Review'' in 1999. '' Then We Came to the End'' received positive reviews from ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'', and ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'', has been published in 25 languages, was a finalist for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

, and received the 2007

PEN/Hemingway Award The PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and fu ...

. In August 2008, ''The New Yorker'' published Ferris's short story "The Dinner Party", which earned him a nomination for the

Shirley Jackson Awards The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of Psychological thriller, psychological Thriller (genre), suspense, Horr ...

. Another story, "A Night Out", was published in ''

Tin House ''Tin House'' is an American literary magazine and book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. History Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer ...

s tenth-anniversary issue. Other short fiction has appeared in ''Best New American Voices 2007'' and ''New Stories from the South 2007''. His nonfiction has appeared in the anthologies ''State by State'' and ''Heavy Rotation''. ''The New Yorker'' included him in its 2010 "20 Under 40" list. Ferris's second novel, '' The Unnamed'', was published in January 2010. It garnered many prominent, although mixed, reviews.

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

called it "audacious, risky and powerfully bleak, with the author's unflinching artistry its saving grace." The ''New York Times'' review, by novelist

Jay McInerney John Barrett "Jay" McInerney Jr. (; born January 13, 1955) is an American novelist, screenwriter, editor, and columnist. His novels include '' Bright Lights, Big City'', ''Ransom'', '' Story of My Life'', '' Brightness Falls'', and ''The Last o ...

, called it "a road novel with severe tunnel vision.” Ferris's third novel, '' To Rise Again at a Decent Hour'', was published in May 2014. The novel was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize in the first year that American works of fiction were eligible, and won the 2014

Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published w ...

and the

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

Bibliography

Novels

* '' Then We Came to the End'' (2007) * '' The Unnamed'' (2010) * '' To Rise Again at a Decent Hour'' (2014) * ''A Calling for Charlie Barnes'' (2021)

Short fiction

* ''The Dinner Party: Stories'' (2017) * "Mrs. Blue", ''Iowa Review'' 29.2 (Fall 1999) * "Ghost Town Choir", ''Prairie Schooner'' 80.3 (Fall 2006) * "It Would Be Life--", ''Phoebe'' (2007) * "Uncertainty", ''Tin House'' 34 (Winter 2007)
"More Afraid of You"
''Granta'' 101 (Spring 2008)
"The Dinner Party"
''The New Yorker,'' 11 Aug 2008
"The Valetudinarian"
''The New Yorker'', 3 Aug 2009 * "A Night Out", ''Tin House'' 40 (10th Anniversary Issue)
"The Unnamed
, ''Granta'' 109 (Winter 2009) ovel excerptbr>"The Pilot"
''The New Yorker'', June 14 & 21, 2010
"Good Legs"
''The New Yorker'', June 2, 2014
"The Abandonment"
''The New Yorker'', August 1, 2016

Essays and reporting

"Nine to Five"
"The Guardian" (2007)
"The World According to Wallace"
"The Guardian" (2008)

References

External links

''Powell's Books'' interview (02/2007)NPR Radio Interview on ''Fresh Air'' Joshua Ferris on work in American fictionThe Dinner Party - short storyJoshua Ferris on David Foster WallaceAnnouncement of Ferris winning the 2014 Dylan Thomas Prize (11/2014)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferris, Joshua 21st-century American novelists University of Iowa alumni University of California, Irvine alumni 1974 births Living people The New Yorker people People from Danville, Illinois Novelists from Illinois Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners American male novelists American male short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American male writers